In My Dreams
by REDtorical
Summary: "If you accept this mission it will plunge us into the deepest parts of our minds." The Spectre appears to Barry to ask a favour, but is everything as it seems? (Spoilers for The Flash 6x10)


"You've gotta be kidding me," Cisco's voice booms over the comms. "I **_just_** laminated that stupid book and this guy appears out of nowhere to mess up the alphabetization!"

ZAP! A stream of ice shoots past The Flash in the streets.

Barry laughs, "Why wouldn't you put it in the computer?" He zooms toward a big metal suit with the complexion of a robotic snowman.

"Hey I like crafts, too!" Cisco yells.

Barry winces from the volume. He punches the machine super fast. Cash from the nearby bank is flying everywhere. "I'm not judging!" Barry shoots back as he doges the villain's backhand.

Cisco babbles on, "That's besides the point! I mean **_The Blue Snowman?!_** At least have the courtesy to let me pick the names!"

Ice begins to surround The Blue Snowman's fists.

The Flash laughs under his breath. "Maybe we should put an ad out for you. 'Super Villain Naming, Costumes, and Weapons service'." He ducks under the suit's throttling fist, but fails to see the other coming toward his face.

"Low blow, man." Cisco retorts.

The iced fist collides with Barry's head and shatters on impact. He flies through the air and hits a brick wall.

"Barry?!" Cisco yells. "Your suit's readings are flaring up!"

The Blue Snowman makes a break for it with the leftover money. Barry lays on the ground. Knocked out cold.

* * *

The Flash wakes up in a damp and dark atmosphere. As his vision clears up, a green glow illuminates in a blinding light. Barry shields his eyes.

"Barry Allen," a voice booms.

He moves his arm away only to see the darkened eyes of his old friend. Oliver Queen. The Spectre.

Barry rushes to his feet in shock. "—Oliver?"

The being's mighty voice echoes in the seemingly boundless air, "A metahuman with dream powers has escaped Iron Heights. He's trying to kill the mayor of your city. If you accept this mission it will plunge us into the deepest parts of our minds to capture him. Will you help me?"

"Always." Barry says without a second thought.

* * *

Barry and Oliver find each other transported to an abandoned warehouse. They are wearing their older suits. A reminder of days gone by.

Oliver moves swiftly with his usual determination.

Barry stammers behind him, "What? How—?"

Oliver turns around, holding his bow behind his back. "I am forbidden from setting foot in your reality, but I can be summoned into the dream world at this time."

Barry nods. "Alright. What's the plan then?"

Oliver shifts his weight. "We have to break through Doctor Destiny's barrier first. We will journey through our greatest triumphs and failures, but it's important to focus and stick together." The Spectre's mystic voice fades back into Oliver's regular pitch. "Anything else you need to know?"

Barry smirks playfully. "Is this the warehouse where I beat you—?"

"Yes." Oliver grumbles. He continues to walk with Barry not far behind.

* * *

The duo tours by warped images and hallucinations of warehouses, bars, the Waverider and their own headquarters throughout the years.

"Well this is definitely a trip," The Flash laughs, taking in all the scenery.

They continue through the bizarre maze. Many memories pop up. Many fond ones, but also many one would rather forget.

Barry stops by an image of him getting beat up by a dark speedster with blue lightning. "Been awhile since that happened." He rubs his jaw.

"Don't forget to stay focused." Oliver reminds him. "You don't want to lock onto a memory for too long."

"Welcome, Flash." A voice hisses. Out from the shadows walks Zoom, followed by Malcolm Merlyn. Bow in hand.

Green Arrow draws his bow, ready to fire. "Don't move!" He growls.

The Flash sprints toward Zoom. "You're not catching my lightning this time!" He punches him over and over, ducking under Zoom's one by one. A black arrow flies into his back.

"Gah!" Flash yells.

Now with an opening, Zoom knocks him down. Merlyn draws his bow again, this time pointing it at Oliver.

Green Arrow fires the arrow at the distracted dark speedster and deflects Merlyn's arrow with his bow.

Zoom tumbles backward.

"Nice one." Barry says, yanking out the black arrow from his back. He winces.

Oliver nods. He runs toward Merlyn. They drop their bows and start brawling.

Zoom pulls the arrow out of his chest and starts running around the archers. The air is getting harder to breathe.

"You'll kill us both!" Merlyn screams at Zoom. He kicks Oliver.

The Flash leans forward, getting ready to run. "Gotta time this just right." His eyes dart back and forth faster and faster, trying to lock onto Zoom. "There!" He lunges forward and tackles Zoom to the ground. With one last blow to the head, he knocks him out.

Barry gets up to see Oliver has already taken down Merlyn. He fixes his dishevelled hood from the storm of wind.

"Thanks for the assist." Green Arrow puts an arrow back in his quiver.

The speedster smiles. "Just like old times."

The room's atmosphere starts to shift and both heroes stand guard, ready for whatever challenge wants to come their way. They stand back to back while surveying the room.

A dark, caped figure appears far from them. "You shouldn't have come here," his ghastly voice projects.

Barry starts running as fast as he can, but the masked man gets further and further away.

Oliver shouts after him to stop, but he's gone too far. Before he can make it to the masked man, he falls through a trap door.

* * *

"Ahhh!" Flash hits the floor with a loud thud. "Ow," he pulls himself up with a groan. He's surrounded by darkness again. "Oliver?" Barry's voice echoes.

A light flares up from behind him. Barry turns around to see a round table lit by a small fire. There's a figure sitting in the chair with the arrow crest marked on it. He walks over cautiously.

A little confused, he turns the chair around slowly. The familiar green hood falls down to the figure's neck, but where his friend's face should be is a skull. Bones come crashing to the floor.

Barry screams and jumps away. He starts to hurry away from the scene.

"Eighty-six years." A voice echoes behind him.

He stops dead in his tracks. Turning around, the hero sees a hazy reflection of the Reverse Flash fighting a dark archer. "The history books say you're supposed to live to be eighty-six years old, Mr. Queen." Eobard says.

"No." Barry stutters. The hallucinations start getting louder and more jumbled. He hears his past self shout. His father killed by zoom. Running. Running faster. Barry grits his teeth as everything comes grinding to a halt. He opens his eyes to see the broken timeline he had created. **_Flashpoint_**. Before him, is a sea of memories like shattered glass, barely put back together.

The sounds of arguing surround him. The speedster looks back at the table with Oliver's corpse. This time the whole table is filled with skeletons. Friends and family. Heroes. All gone.

The voices get louder and louder.

**_"_****_After everything you've messed up!"_**

**_"_****_You just erased a daughter from my life?"_**

**_"_****_You can't go back and just change things!"_**

Barry shifts uncomfortably. He tries to run from the voices but can't.

**_"_****_Eddie!"_** Iris screams. Shots echo through the darkness. Disembodied voices of HR, Harry, Jesse, the Noras, and Henry shriek. Barry covers his ears under the strain. Uncontrollable lighting erupts all around him in bright flashes. "Stop!" Barry screams.

He collapses to the floor as everything silences. One last disembodied voice speaks up, **_"Guys! Hey! This is crazy! Everyone is going, including Barry!"_**

Barry opens his eyes to see a hand reaching down for him.

**_"_****_I'm not going without him."_**

He accepts the hand and gets pulled to his feet. A new room filled with beakers and scientific equipment forms together. The memories fade away.

"Thanks." Barry pulls himself together. "Guess that's why we're not supposed to get separated," he laughs with a little pain in his voice. "Sorry you had to see that."

"I—," Oliver starts.

"I just need a second," Barry interrupts. "Sorry." He covers his face and breathes in and out slowly.

They both stand in silence for a moment. Oliver waits patiently as Barry soaks it all in. He paces a few steps.

The Flash lets out a deep breath, "remember that time when I helped you out for the first time in Star City? The first time we **_officially_** teamed up, you know, after we had that big fight?" He wipes the sweat off his face.

Oliver cracks a small grin, "yeah?"

Barry looks him in the eyes. "I miss those days."

They share a laugh for a moment.

"Me too." Oliver adds, patting him on the shoulder.

Just then, the dark figure reappears and runs through a doorway.

Barry grabs Oliver and takes after him. He busts open the door. "It's over!" He rushes in only to see… _nothing_. There's no one there. No threat. No mayor. Barry swivels around in confusion, "Oliver?"

The archer's head is down.

"You didn't need my help… did you…?" Barry raises an eyebrow.

Oliver nods his head slowly. His costume morphs back into The Spectre's. The green aura surrounds him.

Barry paces around. "I- I- can't believe this! There was no mission - This was all just —"

"A waste of time?" Oliver interrupts.

Barry snaps out of it, "No! No…" He trails off.

Oliver faces Barry. "I thought you needed this."

Barry thinks for a moment. "So is this what getting arrows in the back feels like in the afterlife," he chuckles. "What were you trying to teach me this time?"

"What do you think, Barry?" The Spectre folds his hands together.

Barry shakes his head, still taken aback. "Uh - I don't know. I didn't see this coming, but I think I should've." He looks at Oliver. "So this was all fake? You planned this?"

The Spectre remains solemn. "No. Everything that's been on your mind appears here. I just didn't expect you to get ahead of me and for things to spiral out of control."

Barry sits on a nearby table, "Oh." He mutters in shame.

The Spectre approaches. "I know what it's like to be burdened by past mistakes and shortcomings, but I want you to know, not all these things were your fault. If it weren't you in that suit, things could have turned out a lot worse."

Flash nods silently, removing his cowl.

"I don't want you to be trapped in your own mind like I was for so long. You've done so much more good." Oliver reasons with his lost friend.

"But it doesn't **_feel_** good enough." He replies with a sigh. "So I failed learning a lesson about failures… _**Nice****.**_"

"That's ok," Oliver says with compassion.

Barry looks up in surprise from the words he was not expecting to hear.

"We're not perfect," Oliver continues, "and we don't have to be."

Barry gives a small smile and shrugs. "I guess I forgot."

A steady and faint beep of a machine starts up. Barry glances around the room trying to locate it.

In the darkness, more objects start to come into focus slowly. They materialize in front of them.

Oliver's presence starts to fade. "It's time for you to wake up now, Barry." His voice wavers into an echo for a moment.

Barry turns back to face Oliver. "I don't want to go back without you."

Oliver sighs and sits on the table beside him. "Remember how I regifted you that mask?"

The mask materializes in Barry's hands. He rubs his finger across the Mirakuru stain he had discovered days prior. "Yeah. I thought you had sent me on a mission."

Oliver shrugs and leans his head to the side. "In a way. I was just hoping you'd realize that I was saying thanks. First for being my friend, and second, for the advice. You told me to wear a mask to protect my loved ones."

The stain grows faint and disappears.

"I did." Oliver gazes. "I know I'm not going to be there to help, but don't give up on the living and give yourself room to breathe when you need to."

Barry exhales, "Diggle told me to slow down."

"Sounds about right." Oliver smiles with pride. "It might not feel like it all the time, but people count on you just as much as you count on them." He nods his head toward a napping Cisco, who's now appeared in the corner of the room.

The mask vanishes from the speedster's hands. Barry rubs his face and nods, looking to his friend one last time. "We all miss you, Oliver."

Oliver looks down and smiles. "But I'm never really gone," he says with a wink. The Spectre fades back into into the nothingness he came from.

* * *

Barry's eyes open. He's laying in the med bay at Star Labs.

Cisco jumps awake and rushes over to the bed. "What happened out there, man?! You've been out for a solid hour!"

The speedster sits up in a daze. "Huh?" He rubs his sore head.

"You got KO'd by a freakin' snowman!" Cisco laughs. "Thankfully, Ralph and Frost were able to get him. Or her **_actually_**."

"Hey, it was a metal suit!" Barry laughs. "I'm just having an off day."

Cisco lightens up and pats him of the shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah it's okay, man. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Barry smirks. "Yeah, I know."

Barry speeds to put his civvies on. "Want to catch a movie?"

"Uh **_absolutely_****_!_**" Cisco smiles and starts heading out to the hallway.

"I'll be right there." Barry goes back to grab his coat. It's sitting near a small monument. "I just had the strangest dream-," he calls after Cisco.

In a glass display case lays Green Arrow's mask. It glimmers with a green light.

"See you in the next one," Barry says under his breath as he throws on his jacket. He exits the room with the weight of the world finally off his shoulders.


End file.
